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Santiam's Julian Downey (11) plows through Kennedy's Nick Suing (4) and Emorej Lynk (24) in the Kennedy vs. Santiam boy's basketball game at Santiam High School in Mill City on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2016. Kennedy won the game 58-51 in overtime. ANNA REED / Statesman Journal

Kennedy's Bishop Mitchell (15) and Nick Suing (40) and Santiam's Jordan Lanham (1) all go up for the ball in the Kennedy vs. Santiam boy's basketball game at Santiam High School in Mill City on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2016. Kennedy won the game 58-51 in overtime. ANNA REED / Statesman Journal

Kennedy's Bishop Mitchell (15) leaps for two points in the Kennedy vs. Santiam boy's basketball game at Santiam High School in Mill City on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2016. Kennedy won the game 58-51 in overtime. ANNA REED / Statesman Journal

Santiam head coach JD Hill talks to a referee in the Kennedy vs. Santiam boy's basketball game at Santiam High School in Mill City on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2016. Kennedy won the game 58-51 in overtime. ANNA REED / Statesman Journal

Santiam's Riley Nicot (2) eyes the basket while being defended by Kennedy's Jack Suing (30) in the Kennedy vs. Santiam boy's basketball game at Santiam High School in Mill City on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2016. Kennedy won the game 58-51 in overtime. ANNA REED / Statesman Journal

Kennedy's Nick Suing (40) and Santiam's Noah Butler (14) and Jordan Lanham (1) all fight for the ball in the Kennedy vs. Santiam boy's basketball game at Santiam High School in Mill City on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2016. Kennedy won the game 58-51 in overtime. ANNA REED / Statesman Journal

Santiam's Jonah Downey (3) shoots the ball in the Kennedy vs. Santiam boy's basketball game at Santiam High School in Mill City on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2016. Kennedy won the game 58-51 in overtime. ANNA REED / Statesman Journal

Santiam's Josh Ballard (15) shoots the ball in the Kennedy vs. Santiam boy's basketball game at Santiam High School in Mill City on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2016. Kennedy won the game 58-51 in overtime. ANNA REED / Statesman Journal

Santiam's Julian Downey (11) moves with the ball in the Kennedy vs. Santiam boy's basketball game at Santiam High School in Mill City on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2016. Kennedy won the game 58-51 in overtime. ANNA REED / Statesman Journal

Santiam's Jordan Lanham (1) shoots the ball in the Kennedy vs. Santiam boy's basketball game at Santiam High School in Mill City on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2016. Kennedy won the game 58-51 in overtime. ANNA REED / Statesman Journal

Santiam's Austin Fawcett (33) shoots the ball in the Kennedy vs. Santiam boy's basketball game at Santiam High School in Mill City on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2016. Kennedy won the game 58-51 in overtime. ANNA REED / Statesman Journal

Santiam's Riley Nicot (2) looks to pass the ball in the Kennedy vs. Santiam boy's basketball game at Santiam High School in Mill City on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2016. Kennedy won the game 58-51 in overtime. ANNA REED / Statesman Journal

Kennedy head coach Karl Schmidtman signals to his team in the Kennedy vs. Santiam boy's basketball game at Santiam High School in Mill City on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2016. Kennedy won the game 58-51 in overtime. ANNA REED / Statesman Journal

Santiam's Austin Fawcett (33) plays in the Kennedy vs. Santiam boy's basketball game at Santiam High School in Mill City on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2016. Kennedy won the game 58-51 in overtime. ANNA REED / Statesman Journal

The Santiam bench reacts near the end of the Kennedy vs. Santiam boy's basketball game at Santiam High School in Mill City on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2016. Kennedy won the game 58-51 in overtime. ANNA REED / Statesman Journal

Santiam head coach JD Hill talks to a referee in the Kennedy vs. Santiam boy's basketball game at Santiam High School in Mill City on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2016. Kennedy won the game 58-51 in overtime.(Photo: ANNA REED / Statesman Journal)Buy Photo

MILL CITY — The last time the Santiam Wolverines boys basketball team qualified for the state playoffs was in 1997, where they finished fourth.

The 19-year playoff drought is one of the longest in the Mid-Willamette Valley, but after years of futility, it appears that this year’s team has the ingredients to change the fortunes of Santiam basketball.

“It would great for our community to have a team go from nothing to something because Santiam hasn’t had a lot of success,” senior guard Austin Fawcett said. “It would mean the world to have a boys program that is good for once.”

Led by fourth year head coach JD Hill, the Wolverines have a team full of upperclassmen that took their bumps and bruises to get where they are now. In Hill’s first season, the team won only three games.

“That year we had a bunch of people just playing for themselves, but as the years have gone on we’ve played more as a team,” Fawcett said. “It’s been great and (Coach Hill) pushes everyone to get better.”

Last season they finished fifth in conference, but defeated fourth place Central Linn in the league tournament. With just one victory away from a state playoff berth, they fell to Kennedy, who ended up making it all the way to Pendleton and the state quarterfinals.

This season also brought back the Downey brothers, who have been playing at Silverton, but grew up in Mill City. Julian (senior) was named one of the team captains and Jonah (sophomore) has been a key rotation player.

“I’ve been happy with both Julian and Jonah stepping in and how the guys have embraced them,” coach Hill said. “It’s been exciting to see those guys’ talent and integrate it together with what we already had. When I heard two more good players were joining us, I think the expectations raised even higher.”

The results have been positive so far as Santiam has posted a 4-2 record to start the season.

“It’s pretty early, but I’ve been happy with how they’ve played,” Hill said. “I knew with the experience we had coming back and the growth I’ve seen from the guys that we were going to be a good team.”

Last year there were three open state playoff sports from the Tri-River Conference, but a slight change has dropped the automatic bids to two. However, there will be two open at-large spots for the two highest ranked teams from any of the six leagues who are not already an automatic qualifier.

Based on their tough preseason schedule as well as the strong league they play in, it’s possible to qualify up to four teams from the league this year.

“I knew we were in a tough league, but that’s just how the Tri-River League is,” Hill said. “We’re just trying to do our best to make sure we play our best every game.”

Coach Hill believes the team has a strong shot at either winning the Tri-River Conference or finishing in the top two to earn an automatic berth. They will have to get past top teams in Kennedy, Western Mennonite and Regis to accomplish this goal.

The main reason is the performance of players such as Austin Fawcett, Riley Nicot, Kole Amaral and Jordan Lanham, who have seen the program rise from a three-win team to a league contender.

“A lot of them were getting playing time almost right away on varsity and they went through a lot of losing,” Hill said. They’re starting to see some of those rewards from that hard work for sticking with it and trusting the process. They’ve really been the guys that have turned the program around.”